Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [205]
The central provinces | Around Da Nang |
West of Da Nang: Ba Na Hill Station
Perched 1500m up a mountain 48km west of Da Nang, Ba Na Hill Station provides a welcome change from the coast. The site was first developed by the French in the 1920s, who escaped the summer heat for its cool, mountain air. After a brief heyday in the 1930s the resort was abandoned and soon fell victim to the ravages of war and the encroaching jungle. Thanks to a high annual rainfall together with temperatures at a constant 17–20°C, dense forest growth cloaks the mountain, which is home to over five hundred species of flora and 250 of fauna. In the past few years the local authorities have poured money into Ba Na, converting some of the old French villas into guesthouses and restaurants, laying forest trails and a new access road and even putting in a cable car – a great hit with the locals, who come up here at night to admire the lights of Da Nang twinkling far below. Not that the daytime views are to be scoffed at, taking in the Hai Van Pass, Son Tra Peninsula and Marble Mountains if you’re lucky. Given the weather, you may have to content yourself with a more atmospheric scene of mountains wreathed in mist, but while it’s raining on the lower slopes, the summit may be above the clouds, enjoying brilliant sunshine.
Views apart, the main attraction is exploring the forest paths and wandering among the ruined villas, for which half a day will suffice. You may want to avoid summer weekends when the place can be packed out. A return trip by car or xe om from Da Nang will be pricey once waiting time is factored in – bargain hard – but Da Nang tour agents (see "Around Da Nang") also offer various organized bus tours, mostly in summer.
The central provinces | Around Da Nang |
North of Da Nang
Thirty kilometres north of Da Nang, beyond a region of grave-pocked, sandy desolation, the first and most dramatic of three mountain spurs off the Truong Son range cuts across Vietnam’s pinched central waist. This thousand-metre-high barrier forms a climatic frontier blocking the southward penetration of cold, damp winter airstreams which often bury the tops under thick cloud banks and earn it the title Hai Van, or “Pass of the Ocean Clouds”. These mountains once formed a national frontier between Dai Viet and Champa, and Hai Van’s continuing strategic importance is marked by a succession of forts, pillboxes and ridge-line defensive walls erected by Nguyen-dynasty Vietnamese, French, Japanese and American forces. A new road tunnel funnels traffic on Highway 1 through the mountain, leaving a more peaceful journey for those that choose to take on the pass. From the top of the pass there are superb views, weather permitting, over the sweeping curve of Da Nang Bay, with glimpses of the rail lines looping and tunnelling along the cliff.
The central provinces | Around Da Nang | North of Da Nang |
Lang Co
Descending again into warmer air, a white-tipped spit of land comes into view round a hairpin bend, jutting into an aquamarine lagoon strung with fishing nets. Sadly, this much photographed scene is marred by the road bridge marching across it. The original bridge spanning the lagoon has the dubious distinction